Allen City Council to add new public safety staff in new approved budget

File photo

Allen American
By Winston Henvey / Star Local Media
September 14, 2023
 

At a Tuesday Allen City Council meeting, Pete Phillis, the city’s chief financial officer, presented the 2023-24 fiscal year budget. The budget includes a total revenue projection of $299.47 million. Phillis’ presentation expected expenditures were also $299.47 million.

Looking at a breakdown of the city’s expenditures, almost 50% of the budget went toward public safety, while around 20% went toward general government and approximately 20% was allocated to culture and recreation.

According to Phillis, 70% of the city’s expenses go toward keeping competitive salaries for employees.

This year, the city of Allen plans to add five new police officers, four new firefighters, a new fire station, a new media relations coordinator and new positions in IT, community development and community enhancement.

Council adopted a $0.4205 per $100 valuation tax rate for this fiscal year. The no new revenue rate was $0.395180.

With the adopted tax rate, $0.32315 will go toward maintenance and operations, while $0.097350 will go toward the city’s debt.

Homestead owners are expected to see a savings of $95 this year, Phillis said. He told council that compared to surrounding cities with a population of over 100,000, Allen was among the lowest in its proposed tax rate.

Before voting on the tax rate and budget, Councilmember Dave Shafer said that while he has always supported a no new revenue rate, it was not feasible this year with the needed positions and new facilities coming to Allen. Shafer highlighted the need for police officers, pulling incident reports from the month of October, 2022. According to Shafer, the Allen Police Department responded to 11 death investigations, 76 cases of child protective services referrals, 14 cases of drunk driving, three robberies, 25 total cases of assault in various forms, 52 cases of possession of illegal substances, 13 cases of unlawful possession of a weapon and more within a one-month span.

Shafer said he would continue supporting the addition of new officers to create a safer Allen in future fiscal years, if it means going above the no new revenue rate.

Councilmember Chris Schulmeister said he was proud of the budget the city put together for the coming fiscal year.

Mayor Baine Brooks said that the proposed budget saw one of the best processes he had seen in his years on council.

The budget and tax rate passed unanimously.